Guardian
by Byrdde
Summary: Daniel's famous luck (or lack thereof) is earning him some extra attention… [incomplete]
1. Paradise

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters…more's the pity.

~

Daniel opened his eyes. "Not again," he groaned, taking in the familiar serenity of the landscape. He heard a sob next to him and turned to see a girl, face in hands, shaking her head in despair.

"Back again, Daniel?" asked a friendly voice. Looking up again, Daniel saw another familiar form striding toward him through the ankle high green grass.

"Certainly seems that way," he said as the man stopped a few feet away.

"At this rate, I'm never going to get my wings," the girl next him moaned softly. 

"Sorry," he mumbled guiltily, turning to face his young guardian angel again.

"Come now, Tia," said the man cheerfully. "All in good time." Daniel sighed. This scene was terribly familiar.

The man, dressed in a long white robe, clapped him amiably on the shoulder. "Why don't you two come inside and show me how you died this time? I'm sure it was as original as the last several times." Tia moaned again, causing Daniel to cringe. It really wasn't the fault of his fledgling guardian angel that he was so insistent on dying every few months, but she seemed to take it harder each time. 

"Come along," said the man, wrapping a fatherly arm around the girl, who was wearing a robe similar to his own aside from its pale blue cast.

The older angel ushered the pair into a small, one room cottage complete with roaring fire and - seeing as this was Paradise - a cup of steaming coffee for Daniel. They all found seats in over stuffed chairs near the fire surrounding a small, well polished table. Tia curled her one leg under herself and hugged the other knee to her chest, looking more miserable than anyone Daniel had ever seen before in his life. He took a long sip of coffee.

The older angel smiled down at Tia for a moment before winking at Daniel and intoning formally, "Welcome to the Gatehouse, Daniel Jackson…again."

"Thanks," said Daniel without much enthusiasm. Tia sniffled. Instinctively, Daniel reached for the pocket where he always stashed a few Kleenex. Only to find himself wearing a robe similar to the ones worn by the two angels. Oh yes, Paradise…everything else was still floating around in the physical universe somewhere. A slow smile spread across his face as he took a deep, sneeze free breath full of pleasant floral scents. No allergies in Paradise. 

"I suppose we should probably get on with this before you end up being resurrected again," said the older angel, sounding slightly disapproving.

He passed a hand over the small table and an image flickered to life in the air above it…

(*)

A lone figure sits, scratching figures on the dusty ground, in the middle of an immense plain. A large, well stuffed backpack is nearby, leaning against a large rock. The figure sighs and, dusting away several lines of his scratchings, stares at the book resting in his lap for a moment before beginning new scratchings.

[_Why are you alone in the middle of an alien world?_]

[_It wasn't on purpose…I sort of tripped, and when I woke up the others were gone._]

[_That's what happens when you try to run for your life and read at the same time._]

[_Hush, Tia…What exactly are you doing, Daniel?_]

[_Ah…well, working on a translation for an ancient dialect loosely based on Celtic that we'd found earlier this week._]

[_Hope it was worth it._]

[_Tia!_]

A slight tremor shakes the great plain, but Daniel, immersed in his symbols and syntax, barely notices, except to re-draw an accent the shaking had erased. Perhaps if he just replaced this verb form with the present tense…

The backpack falls over, spilling what must be several tons of books and notes onto the dusty ground. Mumbling, Daniel climbs to his feet and clamors over to stuff everything back inside. Suddenly, and because Daniel is one of those people who never gets a nice, unsuspecting death, he catches sight of a large dust cloud in the distance. Frowning, he looks across the grassy plain for a sign of a breeze or wind. Nothing. Realization dawns.

Grabbing the pack, he looks desperately for somewhere to hide. The dust cloud, now only a few kilometers away, resolves itself into a massive herd of quadrupeds, all quite intent on running down anything in their path.

Daniel spies a large rock formation in the distance. Maybe, if he could make it there in time, he could climb to safety. He starts running, scratchings forgotten.

He reaches the formation only minutes before the quadruped herd - who all quite definitely have claws and very large feet - catch up to him. As he begins to climb, he finds himself wishing it was much, much higher.

About halfway up, his bag falls open and a few books spill out. Cursing, he glances back up at the herd. Still a minute off…probably. Against all common sense, he dives for the books and - of course - slips. 

[_It's never easy with you, is it, Daniel?_]

[_He's got no survival instinct at all!_]

[_Correct me if I'm wrong, Tia, but aren't _you_ supposed to be his survival instinct?_]

[_I was screaming at the top of my lungs for him to forget the shoddy books!_]

[_Daniel?_]

[_Well…_]

The herd is moving faster then he thought.

When they arrive, he's hanging by one foot from the rock formation, head at quadruped knee height…well, at first, anyway.

(*)

The image shimmered out of existence.

"So Daniel," said the elderly angel conversationally. "Any hindsight on diving after books when being charged by a stampeding herd of rather large creatures?" 

Daniel refrained from comment.

"What about you, Tia?"

She glared at Daniel. "He heard everything I had to say in the twenty seconds he spent hanging upside down from the rocks."

"Tia! You know that death is a very important moment in a mortal's existence, how could you infringe on it by scolding him?"

Tia shrugged, pulling herself into a more upright position. "He's had plenty of nice deaths. I thought that maybe, if I yelled loud enough, he'd get it right next time."

"Perhaps. However, despite his previous record, there is no guarantee that he will be brought back to life this time around. He's already had more than his share of resurrections, after all."

"Under normal circumstances, perhaps," she agreed. "But this is Daniel Jackson…I'd give him," she eyed him critically, "a few hours to two days - tops - before he's back in the mortal universe, trying to get himself killed again."

"Don't you think that's a little unfair?" interrupted Daniel. The two angels paused, the elder giving him a level stare and the younger a look of blatant disbelief.

"You've been here how many times in the last few years?" Tia asked.

"Well…"

"And how many times do you think the _average_ human stops by Paradise for a cup of coffee and a nice chat?" she continued, not even pausing. "Once, Daniel! But not my mortal, oh no, he has to drop in every few months for a cup of jo and a quick viewing of his latest death before he's off to cause himself _more_ harm! Not to mention the ridiculous -"

"Tia, that's quite enough," said the older angel in a very calm voice before turning to Daniel. "You will have to forgive her, Daniel. She has been under quite a bit of stress lately, what with one thing and another. She is not normally…oh dear, here we go again." The last as Daniel momentarily shimmered before vanishing from his chair, his half-full coffee cup landing on its base where he had been sitting (no spills or stains in Paradise). The two angels stared at the chair for a moment.

"I suppose you should be hurrying along, then. No telling where he'll wake up," said the older angel.

"He'll be fine for a few minutes. Even Daniel can't…well, he probably _could_, but if he does there's not much I can do at this point," Tia said, waving a hand dismissively. "I think we need to talk about a more…solid arrangement for my guardianship of him."

"Solid?" asked the elderly angel suspiciously.

"Yes, as in flesh and blood solid," said Tia. "So that, when I scream at him to stop something, he knows it's me."

"That's no guarantee that he will listen."

"No," said Tia with relish. "But another nice thing about being solid is the ability to beat someone over the head with the obvious…physically."

~

NB: This is my first attempt at a Stargate fic, so if anyone seems out of character or I mix up my facts, please let me know! And I've only seen the first two seasons, so this is set in the late second season. If anyone would like more, I'll post the next chapter (a guardian angel in the SGC?). Thanks!


	2. Home Again

Thanks so much for the reviews on the first chapter! And on with the show…

~

Daniel groaned. Nice thing about being dead - there had been a lot less pain. And the coffee had been good…Coffee? Where would he have gotten coffee? He must be feeling a little delusional…

"It's about time, Danny Boy!" shouted a very familiar, very loud voice, banishing the last lingering memories of Paradise.

"Jack?" He decided that it was time to try opening his eyes. And quickly changed his mind when the world proved to be composed entirely of painful white lights.

"How you feeling, Danny?" asked Jack in a slightly softer voice.

Daniel, amazed at how intact his sense of humor seemed to be, gave a small laugh. "Like I've just been run over be a thousand tons of stampeding wildlife." He opened his eyes again. Though still bright, the only real problem with the world seemed to be fuzziness. Jack handed him his glasses. "How'd I get back here?"

"When you didn't show up a few minutes after us, we went back through to find you. It took a couple of hours and when we did find you…you weren't a very pretty sight. Teal'c carried you back to the 'Gate and we brought you back."

"Thanks, Jack," said Daniel. "But that wasn't exactly what I meant. How'd I get back to being alive?"

"Oh, that…" started Jack.

"That was our fault, Daniel," said another familiar voice. Propping himself into a sitting position, Daniel turned his head to see Sam, Teal'c, and Doctor Fraiser headed toward him.

"Remember the artifact you found on PX4-225 a few days ago?" asked Sam. Daniel nodded.

"I never finished the translation," he said with a frown. "Hey, Teal'c," he said by way of greeting to the Jaffa. Teal'c nodded gravely.

"You got far enough," said Doctor Fraiser.

"And you were reading it upside down." Daniel stared at Sam for a moment, trying decide if this was some sort of practical joke, but she kept talking. "All those instructions you translated about what to do with the thing, followed by the stuff about releasing the spirit?"

"Right. I thought it might be used in some sort of burial ritual."

"Quite the opposite, actually," said Fraiser.

"It goes the other way. Release the spirit, then use the object. And that text you didn't translate yet…"

"Is probably about the end results of resurrection," finished Daniel.

"Hope there aren't any side effects," said O'Neill in an attempt to be helpful. Everyone gave him an odd look. "What? You know, like on medication…May cause sleeplessness, dry mouth…" he trailed off as he realized no one was really listening.

"How long do I have to stay here?" Daniel asked Fraiser. "I want to go finish translating that artifact as soon as possible…" But Sam and Fraiser were shaking their heads. "What?"

"The good news is that you can leave any time you want. I can't find anything physically wrong with you. Although I do want you to take it easy for the next few days," said Fraiser.

"The bad news?"

"You'll have to translate the text from your computer files," said Sam. "The object…dematerialized when we used it on you." A sad look filled Daniel's eyes.

"Oh, come _on_," said Jack. "The thing brought you back from the dead! What on Earth are you upset about?"

Daniel smiled. "I guess you're right, Jack."

"Of course I am," he said. "Now get dressed and we'll go to the debriefing." He threw a jacket at Daniel.

As the recently deceased archaeologist opened his mouth to reply, the alarm klaxons started up. "Unauthorized off-world activation."

Jack, Sam, and Teal'c were off in a heart beat, leaving Daniel to pull his clothes on hurriedly and rush down the corridors while trying to put on his right boot.

  
The gateroom was, as usual, flooded with armed guards and the iris was closed when Daniel, boot on but untied, finally arrived on the observation deck.

"Welcome back, Doctor Jackson," said General Hammond, casting a quick glance his way.

"Thank you," said Daniel, watching the iris. "What's going on?"

"Unauthorized off world activation," said Sam, sitting at a nearby consul. "No SG code and the only team off world right now is SG-9. They're not due back for three days."

Before Daniel could ask another question, the iris started to glow. As they watched, a dull blue shimmer began around the edges, slowly cascading into the center and pooling into a massive rift in the titanium.

"What the hell is that?" shouted Hammond.

"I don't know, Sir," said Sam, desperately flipping through command code after command code on her screen. "It seems to be a…hole…in the iris." She looked up, eyes wide.

"A hole?" the General's voice sounded suddenly hoarse.

"Sir! The event horizon…" The soldiers surrounding the 'Gate tensed as a form emerged, took a quick glance around, looked toward the observation deck, and grinned. The hole in the iris cascaded shut again, leaving the titanium shield whole once more.

There was a moment's silence as everyone got a good look at the new comer. Daniel frowned.

"Sir?" said Jack after a moment.

"It's a girl," said General Hammond after a moment.

"It would appear so," said Teal'c.

"Don't you think we should say hello, sir?"

"Yes, of course," said the general, eyes snapping back to Jack. "Let's go, people."

(*)

Tia glanced around as she stepped out of the 'Gate to find herself surrounded by a squad of men with some very serious weaponry - all pointed straight at her. She smiled, trying not to laugh. After all the trouble she'd given Daniel about dying constantly, wouldn't it be a treat if she got herself shot three minutes after joining the physical world?

A clatter announced the arrival of SG-1 and General Hammond. She composed herself, trying to look official and otherworldly. It was hard to look serene and ethereal when all she wanted to do was grin like mad.

Sam stepped forward, eyes apprehensive, but voice steady.

"I'm Captain Samantha Carter," she said. "I need to check you for…"

"Goa'uld, I know," said Tia brightly. Allowing Sam to do her thing, Tia took the opportunity to give the gateroom a good, long look. She'd seen it of course, numerous times - occasionally even when Daniel had his feet under him - but somehow it seemed more real this time round. Probably something to do with having a corporeal form. Her eyes fell on SG-1.

She knew them all, of course, but had never actually met them. Jack was watching her with suspicion stamped on his face and Teal'c was, as always, completely unreadable. Daniel was giving her an odd look, as if he almost recognized her. She winked at him.

"She's clean, Sir," said Sam, stepping back. Hammond nodded and turned to face Tia.

"I'm General Hammond," he said. "This is my base. Who are you?"

Tia tilted her head in a way she knew made her look innocent. "My name is Tia," she glanced at Daniel. No reaction. "I was sent here by…my superiors to, ah, observe the activities of some of the units and individuals within your operation."

"By who?" asked Jack.

"Well…" How should she start? _Are you a religious man, General?_

"We're waiting," said the General, starting to become impatient.

__

Funny story, actually. See, on the way to Paradise…

"Are you okay, miss?"

__

Darn it all! Tia sighed and looked around the room. "Are you sure you want me to say here, sir?" she asked, indicating the myriad guards and technicians. 

Hammond nodded. "I trust my people."

"All right." She straightened, dark hair cascading down her shoulders, pale blue robes almost glowing in the artificial lighting. "I'm a guardian angel. I was sent here because my charge can't seem to stay alive no matter what I try."

There was a moment's silence, followed by some soft chuckling from a few of the soldiers.

"And I'm the Easter Bunny," said Jack with a snort. Tia rolled her eyes. "Besides, aren't you a little young to be guarding anyone?"

She shrugged. "I suppose it's all in the perspective. You're probably just looking at it from the wrong side of the hill." Jack raised his eyebrows.

"And you want us to believe that you're a guardian angel?" he asked.

"I don't really care," she said, looking him in the eye.

"And who's angle are you supposed to be?" interrupted Hammond.

"Who else?" she asked with a sigh. "The only person on this base accident prone enough to require a corporeal escort to keep him from hurting himself."

Every eye in the gateroom turned to Daniel.

"What?"

NB: I'm not sure exactly where this is going, but if anyone else would like to find out please tell me!


End file.
